It was sunset in Austin, Texas when Sarah Millman realized she was onto something. The costume designer was looking at photos from the SXSW Film & TV Festival, where her film is based Forbidden Fruitsstarted earlier this month. “We had a group of cosplayers,” says Millman. “This young woman had copied actress Victoria Pedretti’s image from a magic show about mall witches—white cowboy boots, pink baby flowers, a crime-striped cardigan, and a pink Stanley cup with pink stickers. [the look from] “But even before the movie came out, he was playing so fast,” Millman said.
The same surprise happened last weekend in Manhattan, when the fan arrived Forbidden Fruits on opening night the gingham Reformation dress worn by Lola Tung in the film. She topped it off with a matching heart glass from Urban Outfitters. “When projects are being made, producers will always say, ‘We want this to be a Halloween costume,'” says Millman, who lives in Toronto. The truth is, you never know if that will happen did understanding, from the beginning of [Forbidden Fruits]that this was something different.”
Alexandra Shipp, Lili Reinhart, and Victoria Pedretti at Forbidden Fruits.
Forbidden Fruits is a 103-minute play that rips and burns its way through a typical Texas mall. The “fruits” in the title are Apple (Lili Reinhart), Cherry (Pedretti), Fig (Alexandra Shipp), and Pumpkin (Tung), a quartet of witch-loving young women working in a pointelle-cardigan hellscape called Free Eden. (Yes, it’s crazy on Free People, where screenwriter Lily Houghton worked after college.) The denim-clad coven does magic, confesses sins, chugs mocha lattes, enchants clueless customers and lovestruck food court workers, and maybe killed for funsies.
This movie is a “hey babe” scandal in the vein of The Craft, Heathers, Jennifer’s bodyand Telling Girls. That means Millman had to know everything about those films while remaining vigilant about going beyond them—and keeping the film’s original stars in their respective characters. “It was a little scary,” says Millman. “These are young stylish women, and there can be a perception that working in Canada means you don’t have the internet, or something. But none of them came with that power at all. They were very open.”
Lola Tung is wearing a dress from Reformation.
Millman says that when he first spoke to Emma Chamberlain, who made her film debut as a groupie called Pickle, “she sent me a little lookbook—including ballet flats that look like someone’s been wearing them in a mall for like three and a half years.” Chamberlain requested that every cotton dress she wore in the film be covered “so, like that short” refers to ’60s horror heroines like Shelley Duvall and Mia Farrow. For her, Reinhart created a Pinterest board that “showcased” Apple’s character, adding Rebecca Mojica’s vampire chokers and rebellious graphics. “Victoria has a very clever mind. So that was our opinion Heathers.”
No shopping movie is complete without tons (and tons) of denim – but that’s made difficult by buckets of fake blood, constant smoke and wax, and manicures so sharp they can tear holes in the fabric. Enter American Eagle, a popular youth retail brand Forbidden Fruits with enough denim so that every outfit can have a double style. That included Tung’s teeny pleated skort, Shipp’s floaty boho bouse, Reinhart’s black capris (worn with a corset top), and Pedretti’s butt-hugging bootcuts. In one memorable scene, Tung chases Chamberlain into an American Eagle store after spotting her beautiful Susan Alexandra necklace on the floor.
Behind the scenes of Forbidden Fruits.
The incident was more silly than scary, Millman says Forbidden Fruit’ horrors could not be ignored during production. “Shooting this movie in an abandoned mall overnight was scary as hell,” he says. “I found myself, like, run going back into the closet because I was like, ‘This is so scary.’ Then one of the girls said it was a blood moon. It was the night we shot the first scene where they cast a spell.
Millman was worried they would ask for a real hex when the candle wax from the on-screen cover ritual fell directly onto Reinhart’s Rodarte dress. I was like, ‘No, we’re over it, we’re really cursed!'” The studio budget helped buy another Rodarte outfit, marking the first—perhaps only—moment when movie magic surpassed real magic and saved the day.
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